What About the Trash?

Trashy river (one of the cleanest ones)

One of the great benefits of having a team is that we challenge each other. We can work together to solve problems with our varied skills, experience and expertise. The first big example for this on our team has been in addressing TRASH. 

Trash is a HUGE problem on this island. There is NOWHERE to put it! The island is overpopulated. There is no designated dumping area. There are no recycling centers. There is no trash pick-up. There are no landfills. There are no incinerators.

So what do people do? When we first arrived we asked people, “What do people do with the trash?” The answer, “They throw it in the river or the ocean.”

All it takes is a brief walk around our neighborhood and you will see the “river” filled with trash or the pretty beach near our house that has cascades of trash leading down into it.  (Anyone who was wondering why our pretty island isn’t a major tourist attraction, now has their answer.)

But what should we do? We are environment-loving people. We went to college in Vermont. We reduce, reuse, recycle. We can’t throw our trash in the ocean!! In Chad we burned and buried, but we don’t have a yard to burn, bury or compost.

Grace on roof with compost barrel

So what did we do when we first arrived? We copped out.
One of the first days our landlady saw a bag of trash in the kitchen and kindly said, “Oh, we’ll take that for you. Just bring your trash downstairs and we’ll get rid of it for you.”

There was our solution. We did what we could to minimize our trash but ultimately we gave it to the neighbors and tried not to think where it was going. We couldn’t bear throwing trash in the river or ocean, so we let someone else do it for us and never asked where they took it.

Then our team arrived. The problem of trash was again apparent to each household as none of us have yards. But our teammates were not content to let things rest. We suggested that we have a Trash Coordinator for the team and Jess quickly volunteered. She worked to get a big metal barrel to put on their roof for burning trash (still not great for the environment but we are working with limited options) and plastic barrels for starting to compost. Jess and Abby also had met people who made pots out of recycled tin. Now the team could recycle tin cans.

David getting dressed as angel Gabriel

We followed other teammates’ expertise and Tom made a compost barrel to put on our house’s shared roof. We got a basin to collect our tin cans. We found a place outside near the stairs of the neighboring school where we could burn trash on Sundays (the only day that they don’t have class). 

We’d like to say that eventually we would have been self-motivated to research composting, to find tin-pot makers and to look harder for a place to burn, but truthfully it took the team to push us out of our apathy and into action. Now the trash situation still isn’t great- we feel our carbon-footprint a lot more here and we don’t like it- but we’re doing better. Thank you team!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We had a great Christmas with lots of yummy food and our team with whom to celebrate. We were able to take plates of goodies to friends and neighbors and share why this day was special to us. Most people are feeling better from their illnesses (though a new batch is sick now).

PRAYERS REQUESTED

Opening presents with the team

There have been a few developments in the girls’ toilet situation, but the plumbing still is not fixed! Please continue to pray for resolution and for grace to abound in the girls’ hearts during this trial. We keep getting texts and news of people who are not well. Please pray for health! Pray for us and our team to keep up momentum for learning language, building relationships and sharing with islanders.

Oh Holy Night

(Sorry for the delay, our internet has been down the past couple days.)

A picture from our party (photo w/o flash)

Sometimes life here feels like a battle.  Not an out and out war, but a battle.  It felt that way last night with our English Club Christmas Party.  This party’s not a big to-do, but it’s fun and important.  Those that come learn about some American Christmas traditions.  Then we explain the original story of Christmas and its significance.  Then we sing some Christmas Carols and end the night with some snacks--popcorn, cookies, brownies, etc.  We’ve done it before on the volcano island, but this was our first time doing a party like this here on Clove Island.

We got ready early.  We had 30 copies printed out and plenty of food.  (We usually get between ten and twenty people at English club, but you never know.)  With plenty of time to spare, we had the kids ready for bed, our youngest asleep, and we were waiting for the arrival of our guests.  That’s when the battle began. 

About 15 minutes before the start of club the power went out.  Power cuts have gotten pretty infrequent, so it was an unexpected blow.  Our decorations and Christmas lights now glimmered in faint candle light.  But we have a backup for such occasions.  A bright camping lantern that works well for about 3 hours.  That should work for the club.  As the first arrivals started to come we turned it on.  And then we waited.

Tom playing carols by headlamp (photo w/ flash)

Where was everybody?  It seemed like no one was going to come.  All that preparation and only four people.  We worried that weddings and the power cut were keeping people away, but four is better than nothing.  We said a prayer for more people to come and got started with the four.  As we were looking over a Christmas quiz, our bright lantern went out!  It must not have been plugged in properly, because its charge only lasted half an hour.  Now we were in nothing but candle light.  People got out their flashlights or cell phones and peered at the quiz we had handed out.

It wasn’t until about 45 minutes into the normal club time that people really started showing up.  In the end we had about a dozen.  But we were in the dark.  Some one went out and found another battery powered light.  It helped some, but it was pretty weak and the going was still tough.  But with flashlights, lanterns and candles, we read through the story of Christmas together and then we sang some Christmas carols.  Tom’s been suffering from a cold and so his voice was weak for the carols, but people were singing.  An hour after our normal club time ends we were eating cookies and drinking soda and wrapping things up when the power came back on.  Just in time to say goodbye.

Does it sound like not much of a party?  Did we lose the battle?  You be the judge: Many of the people there told us they had never heard the Christmas story before.  Now they had a copy of the story in their hands. Since we had made thirty copies of the handout  we offered the extras to anyone who wanted to take some to share.  They took them all.  One of the ladies who came told us with a big smile that it was an “unforgettable night.” Two islanders gave little speeches at the end, so excited about having experienced their first Christmas. Another thanked us for “bringing Christmas” to Clove Island. We hope that the message of hope and joy will truly be unforgettable for them all.

Merry Christmas! 

Our kids w/ newborn neighbor

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our English Christmas party ended well even with all the setbacks. We were encouraged by the positive response of those that attended. Our teammate had a good birthday! Our older kids are very excited about Christmas on the island and seem to understand more and more the significance.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Lots of people are sick right now, islanders and foreign workers. Pray for our old team leader who appears to have malaria on Volcano Island, for Ben who is recovering from a bad flu, for one teammate who has bronchitis, for Tom who hasn’t been feeling well, for our youngest who we think is teething and for anyone else who is ill. The girls’ toilet still isn’t fixed!!! Please pray for a resolution in the next couple days-- this has been a long and frustrating situation for the girls (they have to shower and use the bathroom at their neighbors’). It would be an awesome Christmas gift for them to have a working toilet and shower again. Continue to lift up Megan's back/leg pain. Pray for the team as we try to share with neighbors some Christmas joy (most with very limited language) and as they will be homesick during this first Christmas away. Pray for hope of this season to be known on this island!

Hearing Good Things

Hearing from teammates on team day

Sometimes being a team leader feels a bit like being a parent.  Now our teammates are full grown adults and for the most part, they are on their own.  Day to day, it is up to them to figure out how to get through life and connect with islanders.  Once in awhile we jump in to give some guidance or help out in a tricky spot, but more often then not, we leave it to them to work things out. 

At the same time, we are their cheerleaders.  When they are doing well we are so thankful.  When they have exciting experiences we are excited with them.  As they struggle and work through things, we are encouraged and enjoy cheering them on. 

So we thought we’d share some quotes from our teammates this week, quotes we heard that have us excited--anecdotes and little glimpses that point to the fact that our teammates are adjusting, learning language and culture and connecting with people in meaningful ways:

“I taught three ladies how to float this week.” 
(Many island women don’t know how to swim.)

“The guys on the soccer field have given me a nickname.  They call me Abdu.”
(Apparently his English name was too difficult to say on the fly, but also a sign of him being welcomed into the group.)

Tom took a hike with good island friend

“I was walking down the street and people were stopping me and talking to me.  'Come over here.'”
(Evidence of friends being made and joining the community.)

“Some of the children are calling me by name now, not just chanting ‘Mzungu’” [the island word for foreigner.]
(Becoming a person to islanders and not just a foreigner.)

“I went to a ceremony and met the governor of the island.  He told me he was very happy to have us here and happy to hear we were learning the local language.”
(What visa problems?! He’s friends with the governor!)

“The matriarch from downstairs came to up to our house and stayed for a long time.  She asked me lots of questions about what I believe.  I got to share a lot of good news with her.  When she left she said, ‘I understand much better now.’”
(In this matrilineal society, mamas are very important, but rarely drawn into serious conversations.)

“I love learning language with my friend.  She is so patient.  It was so much fun learning to cook with her.”
(A team goal--to have our relational needs met by friendships with islanders.)

“We went to their house and had dinner.  We couldn’t say much, but it was really nice.  Then they came over to our house another night.”
(Friendships here are never complete without give and take.)

“I’d been really wanting for some guys to come over. Ladies would come but no dudes. Then the next day two guys showed up at our house.”
(Answers to prayers and more connections with islanders.)

We know as leaders that we help make it possible for our teammates to survive and adjust well here, but we also realize that this team is not in our hands. Thankfully it is in much bigger and more capable hands. So we sit back and marvel at all the ways He is providing. Our team is out there- learning language and building relationships with islanders. It’s a good thing.

1st time back at beach after months of busyness

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We have visas for all our teammates!! We are thankful for the advocates that came out to speak on Ben’s behalf. The ministry man (turns out he is the general secretary and not the actual minister) still doesn’t like us but people over his head do. He still wrote a letter only recommending a 6 month visa (instead of the standard 1 year visa), but then the friendly people at immigration gave us 1 year visas anyway! Thanks for praying. The babies’ diarrhea is doing better! The English classes have started up again and we are reminded again that we like teaching!

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Next week is our Christmas party for our English Club- pray that it would be a good time of celebrating and sharing with islanders about this important holiday. The girls’ toilet is broken. Tom spent a morning in some smelly stuff trying to fix it but it still isn’t fixed. Pray that the plumber works quickly (he isn’t known for quick work).  It was a tough and tiring week with the visa and toilet situations adding stress. Pray that we would re-establish a good pattern of work and rest. This week we will celebrate our first teammate birthday- pray that the birthday boy has a great day!

Visas

Tom decorating for Christmas (landlord's stuff in cabinets)

Getting visas is usually more of a chore than a problem on the islands. Here’s how the process for the teachers has gone.  Tom went in last Monday to ask for a letter of recommendation to bring to immigration to get the service visa.  After some friendly conversation it was explained that it would be necessary for Tom to write a letter asking for a letter of recommendation that he could then bring to the immigration office.  So Tom went home and crafted a letter in his best French (thankfully you can find templates for formal letters on the internet).  He then went back on Tuesday and handed in the letter and was told to return in a few days to get the other letter.  So today Tom went back to the ministry of education.  After more friendly conversation, he was sent to the general secretary.  The general secretary wasn’t in his office, so Tom waited for half an hour.  The general secretary finally came and said the letter had not been written yet and sent Tom off with another person who would write the letter.  For the next hour, amid friendly conversation, Tom helped the office worker craft the letter, even helping with French spelling and word choice.  Finally after an hour the letter was completed, reread several times and printed off.  All it needed was to be signed!  But then,
“Oh, the minister already left (It’s 11:00am in the morning) you’ll have to come back on Monday, okay?”  So Tom said thank you and planned to come back on Monday.  All this just to get the letter so he can go through a similar process at Immigration.

Tom and kids with our little tree

So that is to say the process for getting visas is usually a long but friendly process. The process with the Minister of Health has proved to not be so friendly. Tom isn’t sure if he did or said something wrong in one of the early meetings, but the Minister is not his friend.

Tom went in this week to get the letter of recommendation for our teammate, “Ben”, who is a doctor. The Minister greeted him by saying, “I’m surprised to see you here after I already refused your doctor.” In disbelief, Tom asked for an explanation. Tom was under the impression that while things still needed to be discussed once Ben arrived that there was never any actual threat of him being “refused”. The Minister reiterated some of their previous conversation that included Tom not complying with the Minister’s requests for money and other types of aid (our NGO here provides volunteers, not money/supplies). It was clear that the Minister had selective memory of their previous dealings, but the issue remains that we need his signature. Tom returned the next day with a colleague from a different NGO who seems to have more of a rapport with the Minister. The Minister would smile congenially at our colleague, but had no smiles for Tom. Still with her help we were able to settle for more meetings scheduled to discuss what exactly Ben will do on the islands.

Our daughter reading to our youngest

Meanwhile Ben and his wife have already made a great relationship with a village outside the capital that greatly wants Ben to work at their understaffed clinic. In fact, a friend from that village says he knows the Minister and will be able to talk to him about it.  The question is will the Minister like any idea about Ben’s placement that doesn’t come from himself? Please pray.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We are thankful that our team seems to be settling into routines. Most have found good language helpers to assist them in learning the local language. We are thankful for Advent and the chance to follow and remember the amazing story that started “In the beginning..” and led up to a birth in Bethlehem and continues now!

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Please pray for this visa situation. Pray that something would soften the Minister’s heart and that Ben would be able to work exactly where he is meant to. Pray that by next week’s post, our whole team would have longterm visas in their passports. Pray for health. The babies on the team have all struggled with diarrhea and now Tom and some of the other adults haven’t been feeling well either. Pray for us as we start a new round of English teaching this coming week. Pray that with these added responsibilities we would still be able to balance work, rest, family, outreach, team and personal growth. Pray for our team that they would continue to feel encouraged in the language learning process (this will be a recurring request).

Another Thanksgiving

Tom & most of the team around the table

Another Thanksgiving passes by, miles away our families gather around a big turkey with all the fixings. They eat and laugh and eat and watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and/or a bunch of football. They rest and then they eat and laugh some more. The only sad thing is that we aren’t with them.

“Maybe it is easier for you guys after so many years….,” began the sentiment of one teammate.

Our teammates have been here for less than a month, a time when everything is still hard. Washing your clothes, buying food, talking to your neighbor, dealing with the heat-- life is hard for the first months. So then when the holidays come, the homesickness can be intense. The desire to just transport themselves back is sometimes strong. We know the feeling

Our kids in front of the pumpkin pies!

“After so many years” it has gotten easier, but it’s still hard.  Hopefully it doesn’t mean we are hardened and calloused by the years. Hopefully it means we become just more and more thankful. Thankful for our families scattered around the globe. Thankful for good food and fellowship in whatever form they take.

We do have a lot to be thankful for this year…
-our team is here!!!
-God provided for all their needs to get them here and has seen them through orientation, homestays and settling into their homes.
-we have three great kids!
-Our daughter is a kind and inquisitive girl that loves to learn and dance!
-Our middle son is full of imagination and fun and is starting to enjoy island school!
-Our youngest was protected from a potentially serious overdose. He is a super cute toddler who loves people and running after his siblings!
-we celebrated 10 years of marriage on an awesome vacation!
-we found 5 homes on Clove Island (one for us, four for teammates!)
-we have a kind and merciful Father who likes to bestow good gifts on His children

Our cute kids!

It has been a busy year. A year of transition. A year of new roles and challenges. A year of great blessing. Thanks for following us and supporting us through it!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Immediate solutions for water and money was found for teammates (though longterm solutions are still being figured out). We had a good Thanksgiving- sharing food and fellowship with our team. Pumpkin Pie!



PRAYERS REQUESTED
Continue to pray for our teammates as they enter this holiday season (for many the first time away from family). Pray for their transition into a normal weekly schedule. Pray that they would be encouraged through language learning and would find good islander friends. Pray for them as the difficulties of “culture shock” hit and make life hard. Pray for the team as we seek solutions to the problems of water and trash on the island. Pray that even in these beginning stages that our team would be reaching out to islanders in a meaningful way. Pray that our team would be united in love and learn how to support and encourage each other well.

How Hard It Is For A Rich Man

Tom & Megan with some English students

Every Sunday one of my brothers comes by the house.  He keeps chickens and grows some produce on his land and so he brings it around on Sunday and I buy whatever he brings.  Eggs, bananas, mangos, tomatoes.  Then after that we usually spend some time studying together.  This Sunday he came with his own passage.  It was a passage John had written about loving one another.  “And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another.”  We talked about it in much the way we normally do.  But then, my brother said something that surprised me, “Wednesday, we argued.  And it wasn’t good.”  He was coming to reconcile with me…

So, what happened?  One of our teammate families was staying in this brother’s village.  When we delivered them to the house everything went well until I gave the host some money to help with the cost of feeding our teammates.  Now, my brother’s family is poor.    When he saw how much I had given him, he turned and asked me for more.  At first I said no, but then I ended up giving him some more and saying that this wasn’t good.  The discussion lasted only five minutes, but I was deeply disappointed.   I know enough about island culture to know that this was not a normal way to behave.  In fact, for most islanders to ask for more money when you being given a gift would have been shameful.  Of all the other homestay hosts, no one asked for money, and some even refused to take the gift I offered them.  This is to be expected.  Even if what I gave them was too meager (I don’t think it was by any means) to ask for more money is really unheard of.  I wasn’t angry, but deeply disappointed.  We struggle with many “brothers” who act like money is the best thing you can get from a foreigner (not friendship, fellowship or a better understanding of truth). Once again money had shown itself to be an issue and a barrier and a problem within our community.

Our youngest (15 months)

So back to Sunday.  I tried to explain this to my brother.  We both apologized, but I wanted to try and make my point more clearly.  It just so happened that Megan and I had been reading the story of the rich young ruler that morning.  “Ah ha!”  I thought.  That will make my point clear.  “Then he will understand about the pitfalls of money.”  So I read the passage to him.  But a funny thing happened as I read.  “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.  Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”  I suddenly saw it from my brother’s point of view.  To him, I’m a lot closer to the rich young ruler.  In his eyes, I’m rich.  Although in terms of America, we live quite economically.  Here, I have a good job and a nice house.   I am young. (Younger than him.)  And I am a sort of ruler.  (My status as a foreigner, English teacher commands respect whether I deserve it, seek it, or not)  And what was I refusing to do, but give to the poor.  When I finished the passage I wasn’t sure what to say anymore.  My brother told me that he doesn’t have much but when his neighbors come to him asking for things, he gives it to them.  He is very generous with his money.  Am I so generous?  Not really.  But why not.  So I explained to him.  “You see me as rich, and I suppose that, here, I am.  I want to help people.  I don’t want to hold onto my money.  But here, there are those who ask because they truly need and then there are those who are not trustworthy.  And unfortunately, within our community, there are many who are not trustworthy.  You can tell the difference, but I can’t.  So I’m sorry.  Sometimes, I make mistakes.”  He seemed to understand this, and we left each other reconciled.  Will money continue to be an issue?  Unfortunately, yes.  But can we continue to love one another?  With God’s help, Yes!

Our kids playing on the porch

“How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!...they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, Then who can be saved?...With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”

PRAYERS ANSWERED
All of our teammates did quite well on homestay.  Some of them battled through sickness.  Others battled through boredom.  But overall they did very well, and are happy for the experience.  We’re especially thankful for some of our teammates who were dreading this time and ended up enjoying the week.  It is a big answer to prayer.  We are excited for the relationships they have made and will hopefully build upon.  We had a very fun and successful team meeting this week and we are looking forward to many more.  The plumbing is done and the refrigerator was delivered!  Thanks for remembering these things.


PRAYERS REQUESTED
The plumbing is installed, but there is some electrical work that still needs to be done on one of the houses to get their water system up and running.  Pray that it would get done soon.  But even if the system is functioning it only works if there is some water.  Right now it seems like the town where 4 of our teammates live is completely waterless.  Pray that water would come so that they could fill their cisterns.  Other teammates are having troubling accessing money from the islands, pray that we find a solution Pray for our teammates as they settle into their homes and figure out their routines.  Pray for good language learning, especially for our teammates who have never studied a second language before.  It can be very overwhelming.  Please pray for Megan’s back.  It has been discouraging to see her relapse into pain. 

Homestay in M-town

Teammates being welcomed with flower necklaces by one host

Orientation week is over. The next big thing for our new team is homestays.  This is where we send our teammates out into different villages around the island.  They live with a local family for a whole week.  The hope is that during this time they will bond with islanders and learn a lot about what daily life looks like for people here.  They walk around, play games, cook meals, and do whatever their host does.  It’s an intense week (especially since they don’t know much of the local language).

On Tuesday, I (Tom) went around to the different villages to check-in on things and make sure the hosts knew what was expected.  This went well until I got to M-town.  I teach English in M-town and had asked my students if they would be willing to host our two single ladies.   Two different students expressed their interest-- everything seemed great!

But when I got to M-town there was a problem.  Instead of two people, I had three ladies who wanted our teammates to stay at their houses.  Their first solution was simple.  Simply have three people stay in M-town.  I told them that wasn’t possible; we only had two  single ladies.  Thats when things got messy.  There was a whole lot of arguing and gesticulating.  At one point someone was ready to storm out, but people brought him back to the discussion.  They argued and argued, and I worried that this was going to cause a real rift within this community.  Then suddenly things were resolved.  I still don’t really know how.

Megan, kids & ladies on stage at the certificate ceremony

Later that day we received two visits to our house from people in M-town.  They were afraid that I had been offended and wanted to assure me that all was resolved.  I assured them that I was not offended and apologized if I had been to blame for some of the confusion.  They assured me that I had done nothing wrong and that everything was fine-- though no one was very clear exactly which two women they were supposed to stay with now.

So on Wednesday we took our teammates to M-town for their homestay.  As we settled them in and made introductions to their two lady hosts, we mentioned the third woman who had wanted to host but we only got awkward looks from the other M-towners.

Thursday we had the certificate ceremony for the English students in M-town.  As we waited for the ceremony to start, our teammates were led in by their proud hosts. They were both dressed in matching traditional clothes with henna designs on their hands and enough eyeliner to make Cleopatra blush.  Their hosts were having a good time with them.

Enjoying snacks after the ceremony

The third woman didn’t show up to get her certificate. Her husband (the organizer of the English class) was all smiles and said she was “sick”, but we wondered if she felt slighted. We exchanged texts and got a phone call from her that reassured us of our friendship. At least, she wasn’t mad at us.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We are glad that our teammates are doing okay on their homestays.  We are also glad to start feeling a bit more settled after all the craziness of the first week.  We’ve had some wonderful and exciting conversations with a good island friend, Ma Imani, who used to read the same book we do and has just started reading it again.  She talked about feeling like she’s waking up after a long sleep! We are very excited for her. 


PRAYERS REQUESTED
Some of our teammates are sick on homestay.  Pray for our one teammate who is getting over a virus and for another who’s throat has been sore.  Pray for strong stomachs as many are experiencing tummy troubles and diarreha (especially the babies).  Even a good homestay is challenging.  Pray that all our teammates would persevere through this time and learn a lot from their adventures and ordeals.  Pray for our first team meeting this week.  Pray for a few finishing touches to the houses.  One house needs some plumbing work and the plumber has been very slow in getting the work done.  Also, one house is waiting for a refrigerator.  We would really like everything to be set before they get home from homestays on Wednesday. Also pray for us as we try to complete the paperwork for getting our team’s longterm visas (they got short-term visas on arrival)- pray for good favor. Finally Megan’s back has had a small relapse with all the strain of orientation week, unexpected traveling and setting up four homes-- pray for a quick recovery. 

Crazy First Week!

Megan & ladies of the team (first time in their wraps)

Wow! We knew having a team was going to be a lot of work, but this first week has been pretty crazy. We’re hot, sweaty and very tired, but also feeling very blessed. We are very impressed with our new teammates. They have been doing great despite some sickness and unexpected changes.

Here are some highlights from the week:
- Heard the life stories of all our teammates and the amazing ways God called and led them to the islands.
- A group of students greeted us at the airport on Clove Island, full with a local TV camera and flower necklaces for all. Tom gave a TV interview!
- The boat bringing the bags didn’t come until Thursday!

Teammate with his language helper

- The ladies on the team all learned how to wear the local wraps and wore them in the heat without grumbling!
- The exact right number of islanders came the first day to help our teammates learn language.
- These language helpers did great and we saw our new teammates learning phrases in the local language and laughing/talking with islanders.
- We had two friends from Volcano Island come and watch the kids. They did an amazing job! (Three mom-sick, tired and partially sick toddlers is a lot of work!)
- Great first discussions as a team! We’re impressed by the maturity of our teammates.

Friends helping with all the team kids!

- Lots of islanders stopping and asking us about the team (about English classes or whether they can marry one of the single ladies.)
- A fun English club with lots of visitors and lots of laughter.
- The Father’s grace abounding and sustaining us all.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We made it to Clove Island! Our teammates finally got their bags! We had awesome help during this orientation week. One of the babies wasn’t eating or sleeping well, but we have seen a big improvement over the week! We are excited about this team and the impact they will have here on Clove Island!

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Our teammates move into their homes tomorrow (Monday)! Some of the homes still have some unresolved issues that we are working on with the different landlords. Pray for a smooth transition into their homes and neighborhoods and for quick resolution of the few remaining issues. Pray for the team as they go into homestays on Wednesday (an intense week where they live with an island family). Pray for them as they don’t have much language and are tired. Pray that they are well-rested and ready for homestays. Pray that they remain healthy throughout homestays (there have been some upset digestions). Pray for our family that we would get some rest and transition into this new rhythm as team leaders (this week has been a long hard week on the kids).

Plans? What Plans?

Our whole family on Clove (pre-team)

Last month we wrote about arranging our team’s travel to Clove Island. Every plan was shot down, until finally we had a boat reservation for Sunday- one night on Volcano Island.

Less than two days before the team arrives we get a call. The boat is not leaving on Sunday anymore… it will be Monday. We balk at the change and try to get them to reconsider, but it is set. So we extend our arrangements in Volcano Island and shorten our arrangements for the Orientation Week on Clove. This isn’t ideal, but what can we do.

Tom & our youngest on Clove Island

The next day (the day before the team arrives), we get another call-- now the boat is not leaving until Wednesday!!! Now this is ridiculous. We have to be on Clove Island for the Orientation week, this won’t work. Tom is already on his way to Volcano Island to receive the team. We have a friend go to the office and get our money back from the boat, while we quickly explore other options. Airplanes-- no spaces available Monday. Other boats--no other boats going on Monday. Finally we go back to the airline, is there any possibility of their being spaces on a Tuesday morning flight?
“Yes, we have space.” 
    “How many spaces? We have lots of people.”
        “We have 15 spots left.”
The exact number that we need.

We go back and change our arrangements on both Clove and Volcano Islands again. We get tickets for Megan and the kids to join the team on Volcano Island. We flex and rest in His hands.

In the meantime, the team has arrived with all their bags! We are writing from the hotel on Volcano Island. The room originally meant for just Tom now has our older two asleep on a mattress on the floor and our youngest asleep in a pack n’ play on the other side. It has been a crazy couple days, but God has been providing (even giving us grace when we ran into trouble at airport immigration).

Our kids taking a break

The team is here! This wonderful new phase of life and work is finally beginning! Tomorrow we’ll start the day with a time of worship and thanksgiving, then in a few days we’ll fly to Clove Island. That is, if our plans don’t change again!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Despite all the crazy changes the past few days, the team arrived this afternoon and we’re all settling in and getting to know one another.  It’s fun to see the kids playing together.  We had a scary moment at immigration where we didn’t seem to have the proper paperwork and they threatened to put some of our teammates back on the plane.  Thankfully, we found a paper that would suffice and things went smoothly after that. 

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Our teammates are tired from all their travel and need some good rest.  Pray that the next few days would be a good time to recoup and adjust.  Being on Volcano Island will make things a little more complicated for the next few days. Pray that we make it to Clove Island safely, that our luggage comes safely, and that our week of orientation goes well.  There is a lot of coordination that comes into play for the coming weeks.  Pray that it all comes together in his time.  Pray for good bonding as a team and with islanders in the coming weeks.

Snags

Celebrating Tom's birthday!

Living in Africa you quickly realize that the culture and pace of life is different here. You have to get used to snags, small or big problems/delays/inconveniences that force you to change your plans.

Last week the logistics man (we'll call him Mr. P) came to help us with the final set-up for our team (who arrive on the islands Nov 2nd). We had a long to-do list, but were wondering whether Mr. P would really find many projects to keep him busy. Snag one--water. Water is something we always ask about when getting a house. Now by island standards we were looking for regular enough water to consistently fill water barrels so that this stored water could be used when the water is off. Back in our old house on Volcano Island, we only had water for an hour or so each morning, but that was ample to keep our water reserves full. The snag is that two houses (in the same town) don’t get consistent water and seldom enough water pressure to push the water to the second stories (where the homes are). This issue was not explained to us ahead of time, so now we have Mr. P working hard putting together cisterns and pumps to get water to these homes.

Snag two--rain. Rainy season isn’t supposed to be here for months, but this week we have had a lot of rain. Yesterday (the day Mr. P was supposed to be working on the roof of a home all day) it poured. It poured ALL DAY LONG-- we only usually get that kind of rain in the heart of rainy season. Mr. P didn’t work on the roof yesterday and several other errand have taken longer or been impossible because of rain.

Paul heading to the roof of one of the houses

Snag three- sickness. Our two older kids are in school in the mornings now, freeing us up to run errands with just our youngest (much more reasonable than with three kids), but Our middle son threw up Wednesday and Thursday, meaning Megan stayed at home and meaning less of our to-do list got done.

Snag four- conference room. Our team is staying at a local motel for the first week (orientation week). We had scoped out several places months ago but decided on this one because of the price and location. The only downside was they didn’t have a conference room for our meetings, but they had an easy solution, a room in a house just across the street. A month ago, we went back to actually make a reservation--but suddenly that conference room was no longer available, but they found another one further away. We discussed with the owner of that room and made a reservation with the motel. This past week we went back to go over the details and pay an advance. “Oh, but that conference room is not available. It isn’t my room, I made no guarantees. They changed their mind.”

Thankfully we can work around snags. We change our plans, we find solutions, we trust that we will have the time to get everything done in this final week!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our youngest has continued to improve! His appetite is back, his energy is back and his tummy troubles are gone. Today was sunny and Mr. P got most of the plumbing hooked up.  Our middle son has been praying to be brave every morning and has started going to school without crying. We found another conference room and this one is more conveniently located! Tom turned 35! We are so thankful to have such a great husband and father.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Our middle son has continued to vomit every once and awhile, we wonder if mangoes might be the cause (it is mango season right now, they are everywhere!). Pray that his tummy troubles would resolve and that we would have wisdom in helping him. We still have a lot of little things to buy for the houses, pray that we would have productive mornings this week to take care of our whole shopping list. Pray that we would have wisdom about how we spend our time and that Mr. P's projects would go smoothly. Pray for our teammates-- most leave their home countries this coming week, arriving on the islands next Sat. Nov 2nd. Pray that all their goodbyes, packing and travels go really smoothly!!

Scare with our Youngest

(Many of you got the email asking for urgent prayer for our youngest, if you would like to be on our email list (quarterly newsletter & urgent requests) then email us and let us know.)

Our youngest feeling better!

Little kids are always changing-- but there are a few important things to know about our youngest at the moment: he is fast, he has learned to climb, he has grown taller, he now likes to reach up high for things, and he is always trying to get into stuff that he shouldn’t. Classic 14-month old.

Coming back from vacation we have been very busy. I was running through the house between two tasks when I see David with something in his mouth. I take it away from him and he gives me a complaining whine. It’s an almost empty baby tylenol bottle. “Where did he get THAT? How did he get the baby proof lid off?! How much did he drink?”

I knew it was an older bottle and I couldn’t imagine that he had had it very long. So I convinced myself that it was already basically empty. I’d watch him that day to see if he acted strangely, but he seemed fine that day and so I put it out of my mind.

The next day was a big holiday! The neighbors came and took all three kids to walk around the neighborhood to greet everyone. They came back with our youngest around 10:30am, already fast asleep. It was unusual for him to fall asleep when out and about with people but he often took a morning nap, so it wasn’t that bizarre. Later, he didn’t eat well and had some diarrhea, but we suspected that he had been fed things by the neighbors.

Our oldest and youngest out with neighbors on holiday

But the next morning he didn’t wake up. He slept through breakfast.  When I went in later to wake him up, he opened his eyes and looked at me but didn’t get up. Usually he jumps up at the sight of anyone and loudly whines until someone takes him out of his bed. He just turned his head back toward his pillow and looked like he was going back to sleep.  I decided I should try to feed him something. He ate a little but didn’t talk or whine at all. By the time I was going to clean him up he was already falling asleep in his chair. I put him back down and even when he didn’t sleep he just lay there watching, not moving or talking at all. This was not normal!

Suddenly I remembered the tylenol-- what if he had more than I thought? I racked my brain for a memory of how full the bottle had been before vacation, while learning online that tylenol overdoses can cause liver failure and be asymptomatic for the first day or more.   Tom was gone, we don’t have poison control on the islands. It was a holiday which means doctor’s offices are closed. I called my dad to get his advice about how to proceed. Within the first 24 hours there is an antidote for tylenol overdose, but we were past that window (we later learned the government pharmacies don’t carry it and they were the only ones open on the holiday anyway). We needed to see how his liver was doing, so armed with the name of different tests I took our baby, got in a taxi and headed for the main hospital on the island. I found a lab tech, she looked at my paper and shook her head. “We don’t have the supplies to do those tests here, but go to the private clinic in the other town- I know they will be able to do it… but today is a holiday. So you will have to go tomorrow.” I went home and we tried to call another lab we knew of-- it was closed too. We had to wait for the morning. If the test results were bad we would need to evacuate our youngest off the island, but it was already the afternoon. All the flights and boats off the island had already left for the day. No, whatever we were going to do, it would have to wait until the next day.

But there was one thing we could do-- we could get people praying. If only he would perk up and show some signs of energy, letting us know that he wasn’t  just getting worse and worse while we waited. We sent a text message to our colleagues on the other islands. We wrote an email and sent it out to lots of people all over the world. In a little while we started to get the responses- people had gotten our message and they were praying. That’s when we heard our baby boy.  He had woken up on his own for the first time that day. He stood up on his own and seemed to want to eat a little. Over the late afternoon and evening, the change was dramatic-- he was still sick but he wasn’t scarily lethargic like the morning. A much needed answer to prayer.

Back to School- our son's 1st day ever!

The next day, even though our youngest seemed to be steadily improving, we had to wait an agonizing 8 hours to get test results, and then spend another half hour figuring out what they meant. Finally we got a doctor’s take: The results were encouraging, only mildly abnormal. The results coupled with his increasing energy was a sign that he should be okay.  We were much relieved.  The notes of encouragement continued to flow in to our email inbox that day and the next.  Our hearts are so full of thanks and we have been greatly encouraged by all of you.  Thank you for your prayers.  It means so much to us.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our youngest is doing much better and he has stopped vomiting too. Our daughter was very excited and happy to start back at school on the islands! Our 3 year old son (while less excited) said that he likes school too and that he now has three new friends! The organization's logistics man has arrived to help with the final details for all the houses.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for our youngest's continued recovery and for our other son who has been feeling sick too. It has been a strange week with the holiday and our youngest's illness and we didn’t make much progress in our big to-do list. Pray that we would be productive and not stressed the next two weeks while we work to get everything done. Our son cried when he gets to school in the morning (though he is fine when we pick him up), pray that he would continue to like school and go into the class more willingly. Pray for our teammates as they prepare, they arrive in just two weeks!

Getting to Clove Island: Plan E?

Back for the beginning of mango season!

Sometimes our best-laid plans come to naught. We were passing through Volcano Island on our way home to Clove Island. We were going to take one day to make the arrangements for our team to travel from Volcano to Clove in a month’s time. We were going to buy out an afternoon flight so that they could arrive on Clove Island the very same day. We had a contact at one of the airlines, it was going to be easy and work well!

First snag--that airline doesn’t have any Saturday afternoon flights. No problem, there are three inter-island airlines. We checked the other one with afternoon flights-- no flight. Okay, I guess we may have to charter an unscheduled flight-- our team fills a plane already, how much more expensive could it be? Answer--lots more expensive, almost 3x the price per person AND they still wouldn’t be able to take everyone’s luggage.

Well let’s go back to the first airline with our contact-- maybe we can figure something out with them. “The problem is...we’re not flying right now,” the airline employee tells us, “We hope to be flying again next month.”

Well plans A, B and C aren’t panning out-- maybe we’ll just have to fly the team to Clove  Island the next morning (Sunday). We secure a motel reservation for the team for that Saturday night. It’s too late in the day to get the Sunday morning flight reservation. Our “one day” to make arrangements has flown by, but we have a little time tomorrow morning before our own boat leaves.

A phone call from Tom the next morning, “The two airlines don’t have flights on Sundays!” The only airline that does is the same airline that isn’t flying at the moment.

Our son plays his harp

Okay, new plan! Every time we’ve tried the plane route, we’re getting shot down. What about boat? Is it possible that the new “fast” boat goes from Volcano to Clove Island on  Sundays?!? It does! Now the boat doesn’t take reservations until the week before, but we can make those when we're back on Clove Island. Speaking of which, it’s time to head to the port to try the “fast” boat out for ourselves!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our team is set! Three couples, two singles and two children are coming to the Islands on November 2nd to become our team! We are very excited for the way that God has provided for each one of them and for the chance to have them all here. Thanks for praying for them! We made it back to Clove Island safely. The kids and Megan’s back did well-- thank you again for praying.


PRAYERS REQUESTED
Our first couple days back home have felt productive-- pray that it keeps up. We have lots to do before our team arrives on November 2nd-- finish up the house preparations, finish teaching our three English classes and give exams, finalize all the preparations for housing, feeding and convening the team for the orientation week, plus more… Pray that things go smoothly and that we have wisdom about how to spend each day. Our two older kids start island school on Monday! This will be our son's first day of school and he will not share a common language with his teacher-- please pray that he has a positive experience and that he will be excited about going to school.

All in Good Time

Going on a nature walk w/ Gram

Things don’t always happen as we expect.  Sometimes you feel very in control and on top of all the things happening.  Other times things get out of hand and you feel overwhelmed.  But then there are the completely unexpected things that we have no control over.  That’s when we find ourselves relying on our Father for help and His amazing timing.   This week, we’ve been struck by the timing of recent events have given us reason to be very thankful for a Father who looks after us.

Finding houses:  We’ve already written a blog about this, but we’re still thankful:  4 houses to find before we left for vacation.  The last house found in the final days of the last week before vacation!

Our daughter with her fixed teeth

Our daughter's toothache:  At the very beginning of vacation our daughter started complaining of a toothache.  A strange thing to be thankful for, you say?  But because we were on vacation we were able to get a dentist appointment and then the follow-up to fix her teeth (which turned out to need a lot of fixing--the fillings from France weren’t done well) and get it done in a place where they could do a top quality job.  We keep thinking about what would have happened if our daughter's toothache started after we got back to the islands where there is little to no quality dental care (let alone pediatric dentists).  It could have been a real mess.

Teammates’ support:  When we left for vacation three of our teammates were still working hard to find the support teams they need in order to join in the work on the islands.  All of them had a ways to go.  A month ago the two single ladies were at 75% and 50% respectively of their needed monthly support.  The American family were at 34% of their needed support (not surprisingly necessarily since the support for a family is more than twice that of a single person).  When we went on vacation none of them had reached their goal.  So even though we were far away, and on vacation, we’ve been checking blogs and emails excitedly every day to follow their progress and asking our Father to give them a hand.  We were so happy to see our single teammates reach their goal on the very day of the deadline that had been set for them.  But we were especially excited to see our American family teammates jump to 95% of their needed support, and to see them given an extension of a couple more weeks to raise up the final support team members.

Awhile back when we started thinking about our teammates coming to join us, we started asking our Dad to have things happen in such a way that our teammates and we would know that He was guiding our steps--that all of us would know He wanted us to be here on the islands.  He has answered that request in a dramatic fashion.  When the days are tough (and there are always tough days on the island) we will be able to look back on the way things have come about and know that we are where we’re supposed to be. He picked this team and provided for it. All in good time.

Our son w/ his Gram & Grandad

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our daughter's dental work went well and we are so thankful for the great work of the dentist who delayed going on vacation to fix our daughter's teeth.  We got to meet up with an old friend from camp while on vacation.   We’ve had a wonderful, relaxing time for vacation, enjoyed some of our favorite foods (cheese, chocolate, ice cream, bacon) and the weather has been very cooperative.  It’s been great to see Megan’s parents.


PRAYERS REQUESTED
Tomorrow we head back to the islands, which means a lot of travel and some long plane rides.  The kids did great on the way over,  but we realize this was another big answer to pray not to be taken lightly. Please pray the kids would do equally well on the way back and that again Megan’s back would do well with all the extra stress/sitting of travel.   Also pray for good travel in general, transfers, bags, etc. Pray for us as we hit the ground running back on the islands in preparation for our team. We come back to a long to-do list! We’re really excited that God is providing for all 3 couples and 2 singles joining our team, pray for the rest of their preparations for life on the islands. Pray for our daughter's teeth-- apparently her teeth are pre-disposed to cavities so we need to be diligent.

I'm Gonna Miss You So Much

Tom with his heartsick students

Last week we mentioned some of the differences between Clove Island (our new home) and  Volcano Island (the neighboring island where we used to live).  Well, here’s another thing that’s different.  Sentimentality.  As most of you know we are on vacation for a few weeks right now (a grand total of three weeks).  But for some of our island friends acted like it was an eternity.

The following were real conversations:

My friend Sterehi came to visit the day we left.  He told me how much he was going to miss me.  I reminded him that I would only be gone three weeks, but that didn’t seem to matter.  He had brought a USB drive because I had taken a bunch of pictures in the last month with him included in them so I was happy to share them.  Some of them were of Megan and the kids.
“Now I have pictures of all of you, so I won’t forget you,” he told me.
“I’m only gone for three weeks,” I reminded him.  Meanwhile our daughter was dancing around the room.  As if he hadn’t heard me, he watched Grace and remarked, “When you are gone I will remember this moment.”

Our kids (worth missing)

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One of my students came by to visit.  He is an extremely eager English speaker, the kind who makes the whole class have more fun because he is willing to say or try anything and challenge his classmates to join in.  With a big smile on his face he told me how sad he was feeling because I was leaving.  I reminded him that it was only three weeks.
“Three weeks!” he exclaimed. “That’s,” counting on his fingers, “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday…” he continued until he had done three weeks worth.  I tried to console him a bit (although I wasn’t feeling a whole lot of pity) but he went on.
“You know, I haven’t eaten anything today.” I looked at him skeptically.  “Really,” he said.  “I was so sad that my teacher is leaving that I couldn’t eat all day.  Only just now I ate a handful of popcorn, but that’s all!” 

The whole family on vacation

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Ma Riziki, our neighbor, told us, “We’re going to miss you so much...We’re going to look up at your porch and no one will be there…”

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Now, it’s possible that we really are that special and memorable--that we’ve made such a deep impression and culturally integrated ourselves so well that they really will be devastated to have us leave.  But I think more likely this is a cultural way of showing friendship.  Most likely they will hardly notice we are away and when we get back, we’ll hear things like, “Oh, you traveled?” 

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We’ve been having a wonderful time with Megan’s parents. They watched the kids and let us have a few nights away to celebrate our 10th anniversary. It was a great time! We’re thankful to be in a place with good dental care for vacation-- our daughter's tooth just started hurting and it turns out that the dental work she had in France was not well done. We are thankful that this was discovered with time for it to be taken care of before we return to the islands.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Our future teammates just have a couple days left to raise the rest of their financial support. Pray for them as they come to this deadline. We have lots of important email to respond to, pray that we can keep a “vacation” feel while still keeping the preparations for our team moving. Our daughter is going to the hospital on Wednesday for some dental work-- pray that it goes well and that it isn’t traumatizing in any way.

A Drop in the Bucket

Tom teaching his class

There are many small differences between “Clove” Island (where we live now) and “Volcano” Island (where we lived from 2009-2011), but one bigger difference that effects us is the level of English on the island. We are English teachers and on Volcano Island we were part of a team of English teachers, there were various well-established and Islander-run English learning centers and many high-level English speakers amongst islanders.

Once we got to Clove Island we found little to no English teaching on the island. Our arrival was met with lots of excitement. Rumors of what we were going to do spread quickly. We were met with a barrage of questions by people all the time, “When will you start? Where will you teach? What time? How much will it cost?”. People stopped us in the street. People came to our house. Shopkeepers asked us as we shopped. We took down people’s phone numbers and promised to let them know when we had details, but we knew whatever we offered would not satisfy the demand.

Megan teaching, our son visiting the class

We decided to teach three Level 1 classes in collaboration with three different local groups. We let people know all the information, but before we could even finish explaining the complaints always began. “Why can’t you teach more levels? Why can’t you have a class for children? Why don’t you have a class at this time? Why don’t you have a class in my village?”  Then after a few weeks there was the new disappointment,  several people come to our front door to say, “I called the man for the class, but he said it was full already!!”

All we can do is apologize and say, “Sorry it is just the two of us right now and many people want to learn English. We’ll start new classes once these are finished. We’ll let you know.” Resigned they get up and leave.

Tom & students on break from class

We’re getting used to disappointing people, but we’re grateful that we are doing something that people on Clove Island are excited about and we only hope that islanders will be as excited for all the things that we and our team have to offer the islands.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
All our travels went smoothly. The kids did great on the planes and Megan’s back did well. Thank you for praying! Everyone arrived safely for the translation conference. 


PRAYERS REQUESTED
Please pray for our teammates preparing to join us on the islands. They have only a couple more weeks to raise the funds to join us. Pray that their support teams would come behind them. Continue to pray for the translation projects-- we haven’t heard how the conference went yet. Pray that we would have a restful break off the islands.